*** Official Sager NP7352 - Clevo W350ST/ Sager NP7370 - Clevo W370ST Owners Lounge!! ***

Its compatible with older standards, and should work just fine if you want to have upgrade for the future than grab 7260 now

and thanks Bishibot didnt know they have drivers for win 7 out and they offer it now with laptops

 

First unpack it )

Joke a side make sure everything is not damaged, start it and enjoy, install some game or benchmark and see what kind of beast you got, also install CPUID HWMonitor and see how are your temperature

 

Currently trying to decide between this and the np8230. I was going to go with the np8230, however now I am rethinking it, because this one is a pound less and I've heard a bit more compact. Is this really a fairly portable laptop? I don't expect it to be a 13" 3 pounder obviously, but I travel ALOT and with a backpack, not just "vacation" type traveling in hotels etc...What do you all think in regards to the portability and stability (build quality) of this laptop?

Also, I'm interested in some benchmarks in regards to gaming. Anybody done any gaming with heavy games for multiple hours? If so any FPS and temperatures would be nice.

Essentially I'm wondering about three things. 1.Build quality and portability 2.Gaming capabilities 3. Cooling, especially while gaming

EDIT:
I forgot to ask about the battery as well, because I've read that it may have a shortage of input in the PSU for what it's actually using.

 

I dont own this one but i can link you a review of the NP7352 (Clevo W350ST) in case you dont know it already, which may answer some of your questions:

Review Schenker XMG A523 (Clevo W350ST) Notebook - NotebookCheck.net Reviews

If you want a really portable gaming laptop you should take a look at the 13 inch NP7330 (Clewo W230ST).

 

I've had my new 7370 laptop for about 24 hours and have huge gripes with the on-board sound. It is absolutely terrible. Like as bad as playing music out of your cell phone. My 4 year old dell studio laptop had "UBL SRS sound" with an onboard sub and it completely blows this sound out of the water. This sound is extremely tinny with no bass. If I knew it was this bad I would not have gotten this laptop.

The other issue I have is with the stock screen. For some reason when I move my eyes to the top right corner, I can "see" the black outline of pixels (it's subtle but annoyingly noticeable, even in games). The screen doesn't seem to suffer from this on the left side.

Ugh why....why would you build such bad speakers into an otherwise stellar laptop. Seriously the sound feels 20 years behind every other component here. I get up a lot and like to play music in the room so headphones aren't really an option.

 

I posted a few pages back that brightness wasn't working on my Windows 7 install. I've just managed to get it working however. Other threads suggested that it was driver related (I was running latest drivers) or that I needed to uninstall the Generic PnP Monitor from Device Manager (which didn't work). As a final measure, I decided to update the BIOS. I noted that a Video BIOS upgrade was also included in the BIOS upgrade and thought it might be worth the risk.

I can't seem to find the proper BIOS download on Clevo's own site, but the unofficial mirror over at W3xxST has it.

Using a FreeDOS bootable USB stick made using RMPrepUSB, I firstly updated the EC firmware, and then the BIOS (but not at the same time - there was a reboot in between them). The BIOS flash did seem to flash quite a few components, so there's definitely more than just the main BIOS being flashed. After booting back into the BIOS to verify that the BIOS had indeed had its version updated, I booted up Windows - and was very pleased to find that the brightness controls were now working.

The other change I noticed post update is that there is now a smooth fade to black between the Windows login screen and desktop - previously this would judder slightly (possibly a consequence of the nVidia optimus switching? I notice the LEDs for them switching during login). I've not noticed any other changes but will update if I do.

Hope this helps anyone else experiencing this issue, but keep in mind that BIOS flashing can be a bit risky and is almost certainly unsupported. Make sure you follow the instructions in the included README to the letter.

Previously, I was on KBC/EC 1.00.03 and BIOS 1.00.02. I'm now on KBC/EC 1.00.04 and BIOS 1.00.09. I jumped directly from 02 to 09 - I didn't flash the intermediate 07 version also available for download.

The only issue I now have with this laptop is the grain on the matte screen. I've already had it replaced once because the first one I received had really excessive grain, the replacement has less grain and I think i'll just have to get used to it. To be fair, having the screen on maximum brightness all the time because the control was broken probably didn't help hide the grain.

 

I just checked mine came with KBC/EC 1.00.04 and BIOS 1.00.07 so will wait with updating

Edit: just checked and I have ME FW 9.0.10.1372 and it says is Bios 09 update that's included, and I have 07 with already updated ME FW

 

Hey guys, I'm going to be ordering a W370ST, but Clevo's website seems to only have support for Windows 8 drivers, where are you guys getting the drivers for Windows 7? are you just using the windows 8 drivers or a driver CD that comes with the computer?

Thanks!

 

You have them on sager website and I also got disk with drivers for Windows 7

Sent from my XT925 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

 

ah alright thanks, I'm buying mine through CyberPowerPC with no OS. I guess I'll just take the drivers for the same model off of Sager's site since Clevo doesn't host them for some reason.

Are you guys running the latest version of the Nvidia drivers? Are they stable and working well in games?

 

Anybody care to shed some light regarding my concerns/questions in my last post?

 

@Steaz I bought mine from reflex notebooks also without OS but I still got the drivers disk

@bthzle1 I will do some testing myself but didn't have time enough to play more with the laptop

Sent from my XT925 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

 

Im using version 320.49 and all seems to work fine no bluescreens or other bugs while gaming or doing some benchmarks

 

Updated the bios to .09 from .04. EC version was .03 now is .04
However, I seemed to have lost the ability to increase the multipliers beyond 34 in intel XTU before with BIOS .04 I could put it up to 36...

@puska

what version of IME drivers do you have installed?

 

just checked mine came with KBC/EC 1.00.04 and BIOS 1.00.07 so will wait with updating

Edit: just checked and I have ME FW 9.0.10.1372 and it says is Bios 09 update that's included, and I have 07 with already updated ME FW

I wrote this on previous page

IME drivers is that ME FW or you mean something else

And I checked Intel XTU also 34 is maximum for me

 

Hey guys so I finally got my sager and gotta say, I'm really happy with it. However I noticed, as previously mentioned, that my two sticks of 4gigs of ram are running in single channel. Does this cause a serious performance hit? I would rather not switch the stick spaces because I've never really opened a laptop before and am a bit apprehensive of doing so. Will i see improved application speed and gaming if I get them into dual channel?

 

It's really easy to open up these laptops, certainly compared to some other manufacturers. You can grab the service manual for your laptop here, which includes illustrated instructions on how to perform maintenance, such as adjusting the RAM.

Switching to dual channel will give you a memory performance boost and should be a simple operation - just make sure both sticks are in the two bottom slots, not under the keyboard.

 

Hi guys. My NP7352 just arrived and I've been trying to play a game called Combat Arms ( combatarms.nexon.net) and it's not very demanding.

Regardless, 1080p with every other setting off is only getting me 60 fps ( on a 6750m I got 60ish as well). I set the 765M to global and set windows to high performance. As far as I know I've done nothing wrong. I installed the nVidia drivers twice, the 765M runs when I play the game, but it still runs like crap. Running Win8, no other problems.

Does anyone else play this game? I'm having a lot of trouble and I play it a lot with my little cousins. Thanks

Here is my score on 3dmark11. Where should I get my drivers?

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 765M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-4700MQ,Notebook W350STQ/W370ST

 

I don't understand if it's 60 and not more maybe game have the limit at 60.

What's exactly bothering you? Is it with less than 30 fps on max details or?

Not sure 100% but I think your score is OK and I think I've got similar will check when I come home

Sent from my XT925 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

 

Does enabling the settings change your framerate? The system might cap your framerate at 60 to keep the temps down. Also, do you play with an external 120Hz screen? Otherwise going above 60 would be completly pointless anyway. You should up the graphics settings and compare the framerate again to the 6750m. If for some reason the 765m still performs badly it might be driver related. Make sure you always get rid of the old driver before you install a new one, and search for one that supports your game or try the new ones until one performs well enough. Moreover, did you try to game while on battery?

 

If Vsync is on, FPS is tied to monitor refresh rate (60). Realistically, FPS above 30-40 is completely unnoticeable by the human eye so it doesn't matter anyways.

 

I may not necessarily see the difference, but I can certainly feel it. How do I disable vsync? I've looked everywhere in the nvidia control panel as far as I know.

Sorry for being such a noob, guys. I really appreciate the help

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

 

I ran MSI afterburner, and the temps reached a max of 60. Frame rate is about 60fps less than what I get on the 6750m. Can you link me to the latest drivers? As far as I know I'm updated. I gamed on battery

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

 

VSYNC settings are normally in the game or application settings.

If you attempt to render more frames per second than your monitor can display, you may notice visual tearing, so leaving VSYNC on is recommended.

 

You gamed on battery? No wonder it feels slow I don't think Nvidia even works on the battery or even if it does it throttles try gaming while plugged in and see how that feels

Sent from my XT925 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

 

Second that, plug the notebook in. You can also get the latest drivers from the NVIDIA website, it's pretty straight forward.

 

Hey Sager owners, Im in the market for a gaming laptop that can handle Dota 2 and CSGO, and one for school as well and one thinking of the Sager NP 7352 or the Lenovo y510p. And was wondering would this laptop be a recommended buy for what i am going to use it for?

 

@puska

Yes the IME drivers are different, you can get them from intel website or clevo driver page. you install them from windows.

@PhD

For me I use it for exactly the same, gaming and university use (i am a postgrad).

 

Could anyone comment on the general build quality of the notebook and how it compares against some of the more professional notebooks such as Dell Precision, Thinkpad,,...

 

I'm very close to buying one of these. Does any1 know if it's remotely possible to replace the keyboard with a backlit one?



Edit: my 420th post haha

 

I play Dota 2 every day and this laptop plays it flawlessly maxed out. It also stays cool to the touch. My only complaint is sound quality, I don't like using headphones but the built-in speakers are pretty bad.

 

The build quality is reasonably good, not built like a tank, but it doesn't weight like it was built like a tank either. The top is probably the flimsiest feeling of the entire computer, the keyboard area feels solid, the bottom feels solid...

Gaming... well it's going to game as well as any laptop with a Nvidia GTX 765M will... I don't game too much , so someone else is better suited to telling you the gaming abilities... but really, near as i can tell, your Gaming ability is pretty much directly related to the GPU... I'd say this GPU is right up there in the top 25% of all laptops from what I can tell.

Cooling... Well it does way better then my old Dell XPS... I have no real complaints about it's ability to cool itself... If you run the GPU at full capacity and the CPU is going hard... the CPU will heat up more then the GPU will, but I've really yet to see the CPU throttle back do to excessive temps, and I've done stress testing over periods of 45 minutes or more, pretty much with the GPU at 100% and CPU at 80% during that time. I'd be hard pressed to believe many other laptops would do much better.

 

I'm having this EXACT problem- has anyone else encountered it? I can't reliably reproduce it, and leaving the laptop off for a while has fixed it for me. Reboots, resetting the device, reinstalling the RealTek drivers, no active action I take can fix the issue.

Additionally, I'm having another troubling issue with my NP7352- sometimes (again, I can't reliably reproduce this) when I open the lid, the computer doesn't return from sleep mode properly. The LEDs below the trackpad illuminate- the power one stops blinking and stays on steadily, as happens when the computer is on, and the other various indicators would seem to show the laptop coming back- however, the screen stays black. I should add that it feels like fans spin up as if basically everything was coming back on inside.

The only clue I have here is that it seems when this problem doesn't occur and the laptop wakes normally, I see the HDD light illuminate briefly as it retrieves the state of the OS, or whatever various actions it's taking. When the laptop doesn't wake properly, I believe this light doesn't illuminate. I should add that I replaced the default 7200RPM HDD offered by my reseller (XOTICPC) and got a single Crucial SSD. I went to update the SSD firmware, then noticed that the description in my order confirmation doesn't match up with an actual Crucial product- the email from XOTICPC says I have a " 240GB Crucial M5 Series Solid State Drive [SSD2 Serial-ATA III]" but on Crucial's own site the only 240GB SSD (that's not mSATA) is an M500- should I get the M500 firmware?

(edit: I went to look for M500 firmware but couldn't find anything. A thread from last month on the Crucial forums said there was no M500 firmware update. Additionally, the device manager reports my disk drive as "ATA Crucial_CT240M50 SCSI" with a driver from 6/21/2006. Does this seem right?)

I'd appreciate any help with either of these issues. This laptop is really great, minus the intermittent problems listed above.

EDIT: 1 day later, I "fixed" the wireless issue by leaving the laptop shut down for several hours, not connected to the power cord. This is the same course of action that "fixed" it the last time, but that time it was only shut down and not plugged in for about 45 minutes.

 

I have no issues at all with my Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6235 - 802.11A/B/G/N Wireless LAN + Bluetooth Combo Module, my OS is Windows 7 Pro, haven't updated any drivers.

 

Could anyone tell me how I would go about installing a second hard drive? Do I have to get a caddy and remove the optical drive, or is there another way?

 

You remove the three screws holding on the main back cover, slide the cover off, the secondary drive bay is right there in plain sight, no need to remove anything but the cover...

 

do you have the w370st ? you can download the manual from the clevo HP there it is described how to install the 2nd drive

CLEVO - Download

 

I am curious about a few things before ordering. If you add the fingerprint scanner is that installed in the laptop case itself or is it an external add on that will have to hook to a USB port?

 

It's integrated where track pad is between left and right click buttons

Sent from my XT925 using Tapatalk 4

 

I am seriously considering buying this laptop - my main use will be Photoshop, but workstations are way out of my budget right now so going for a gaming rig. The Sager NP 8235 (I think) (Clevo P151) is overkill for me in the GPU department, having a 770M though I would have loved 4 DIMM slots on the W230ST like the P151 for Photoshop.

For those who upgraded your display unit, can you please tell us your display hardware model number? Someone posted it for the stock screen, but I would really like to see reviews and specs for the display upgrade to weigh my options better. Display is important for me since I'll be going to a design school soon.

I had talked to an XoticPC representative a couple weeks back about the SSD upgrade options, I got this answer (I was considering the Lenovo Y510P and the Sager NP8235 when I talked to the rep):
"The Lenovo offers more options than the Sager as far as the RAM and SSD options are concerned.
Is this a manufacturer restriction?
Hutsady: Sager builds their computers directly at their factory they just dont carry as many options as all the other models we offer as those are built here by us"

The SSD upgrade options they offer are more expensive than what you'd get them for on Amazon or something. The Crucial 128GB SSD in the mSATA slot for example is for $160 on XoticPC (also on LPC and custom gaming laptops - Welcome to Sager Notebooks), while on Amazon it is available for ~$110. The Plextor M5M which has the newer Marvell controller is cheaper than the Crucial, and has better performance, at least on benchmarks. I think I'll go for the Plextor from Amazon and install it myself.
(note - other components are okay and not overpriced )

Also, will it be a hassle to get the Notebook from XoticPC with Windows installed on the Seagate MomentusXT and adding an SSD later? I mean to use the SSD as the primary drive so will have to format the system and install to another storage media - is that a problem? I've never owned a laptop with multiple storage media so I'm not really sure.

Shout out to Photoshop users - how do these specs look?
i7 4700MQ
24GB 1600MHz DDR3 RAM
Plextor M5M 128GB SSD for boot, install location for Adobe suite and scratch disk

Will it be fine if I install Photoshop to the SSHD instead? It will be a 750GB 7200RPM HDD with 32MB cache, and 8GB NAND (SSD) memory. Asking this since I've heard it's better to create the scratch disk which is not on the same storage as the drive it is installed on.

Sorry for the long post (this is my first on NR). Hope someone can answer some of my questions and give some feedback. Also, I'm open to better configs in the $1400 - $1500 range, but I don't really need a better GPU. Same config as this with 32GB RAM upgradeability would be PERFECT for me, so if anybody can help me with that it'd be awesome.

Thanks!

 

First, thanks for answering my question. Yes it certainly is restrictions from the manufacturer side (Sager) for not allowing resellers to utilize SSD options. Sager and other manufacturers have tested only certain brands and allow them in terms of reliability and driver support. Plextor so far has better speed and average lifetime in banchmarks comparative to Intel/Samsung SSDs...certainly something Sager should think about adopting.

I certainly do not understand why they are overpricing SSDs! Considering they get in bulk orders and also being a manufacturer, it typically should cost less for a in-built system.

Secondly, to your question on "hassle" - it is easy but a bit tedious. Getting the OS on SSD with a HDD 2ary storage straight from Sager will save a lot of time and testing. When done at home, you need to go through appropriate driver support and necessary upgrades which will be a bit frustrating when installing. The manufacturer however would test the system so I usually opt for that, rather than me doing all that for sake of convenience and guarantee! SSHD are no way near SSD speeds but they are faster than normal HDDs due to SSD cache (SSD-cache only speed up frequently used programs). I would much prefer OS + Photoshop on SSD while having a HDD for storage IMO. There's load of photoshop benchmarks on SSD/HDD i7 systems if you google em'

 

Hopefully I'm ok asking this question here, if not feel free to point me in the right direction. I've been patiently waiting for the Haswell rollout but I'm getting close to the point where I need to purchase. The issue I have with the NP7352 is battery life; it seems I'm only looking at ~4 hours even with just casual use. Are there any other Sager/Clevo models (or another brand) out there that fits my needs:

15"
1920x1080 res
6-8 hours battery life
8gb ram
SSD or at least the ability to add one
SD card reader

I'm a 'casual' user and would be using it for netflix, music, basic doc creation, surfing, etc. Seems all the Haswell options rolling out now are 13.3" or less. I suppose I could spring for the spare battery, but as I plan to do some traveling I want to keep the weight down. Thanks in advance.

 

The answer is NO. Any laptop with a High end graphics solution will consume a lot of power. Not to mention an i7 quad core with that. Such laptops will usually give 4-5 hr max battery output time (if Battery is high capacity).

I would say if you tone down to a dual core CPU & Graphics less than that of GTX 740m/ Radeon 75XX series you certainly will be able to get a 6-7 hr battery life considering Optimus is available onboard the motherboard. I hope this answers your question.

 

Hey guys, please help. I just got my Sager NP7352 from xoticpc yesterday and it all worked perfectly fine. Today I tried to install magicdisc, a program that mounts ISO. After that I restarted my laptop. It won't start up. So I used system repair and I think it did a system restore. Now I cannot connect to the internet. As far as I know, there is no switch to turn wi-fi on and off, so there's that. When I checked the device manager, it says the thing is working properly. When I tried to reinstall the WLAN drivers which came in the disc, it said network controller driver not found. Please guys, any information regarding this problem? I would really hate to have to turn this thing back to xoticpc and lose precious time I just don't have. Thanks in advance

 

Hey there. From your description of usage, I'd say you don't need a high end GPU or processor. You should ideally look for a Haswell i5 with on board graphics - the integrated graphics with Haswell chips have seen a substantial improvement over previous generations. As for ssd, do you want it for the speed or the battery? If it's for the speed then you need to check if your rig has an empty mSATA slot or a SATA slot free. If so you can add an ssd there, but make sure it's the correct type for the interface.
If you need it for the battery, then you can always replace the stock HDD, though I wouldn't do that for the cost involved.

Basically to increase battery life you should be looking for components that draw less power. If you really need an i7 then look for the 4702 instead of 4700, it draws less power (37W). Also, as tlprtr19 mentioned, high end GPUs will draw more power and eat your battery life. I'm not sure how the battery is affected when something like nVidia's optimus technology is used, though.
Also as you might know / might have guessed, ssd draw much less power than HDDs. So that's the way to go if mobility is what you want. You need an ultra book, not a Sager. =)

Have a look at this page. Should help you out. List of Haswell laptops

All the best!

 

I'm kinda scared about the frustration part, but i really can't afford to spend an extra $50. Coming from India, $1400 is a huge sum for a laptop, and with a dad who isn't tech savvy and who doesn't know the laptop can be used for anything other than web surfing, it was kind of hard to convince him into buying this laptop. Okay, maybe I exaggerated. But you get the idea.

Also, yes, I've seen benchmarks. And the momentus actually performed really well. Too good for an SSHD imho. So really wanted first hand experiences from real people. =D

 

Did you check if airplane mode is off ? Also do you know which network card you have I think I had same issue tried more than one driver from sager website till I got the one that was working I have basic intel 8235 card

 

Ok so I called tech support. The guy walked me through taking apart the laptop so that I can get to the wireless card, I have never taken apart a laptop before, or even a desktop. But l guess fortune favors the bold, and everything worked out fine. He told me to wiggle the cable of the wireless card a bit, just to make sure it's connected, and voila, for some otherworldly reason, the wireless worked fine again. My question is, how does installing a software affect the hardware? How does installing magicdisc, then going to system repair, break the wireless, but then just wiggling the cable of the card fix the entire thing?

 

Its easy but its up to your comfort level. You have to follow the manual, change BIOS settings, Install OS, Install drivers (sound, graphics etc). You can also see youtube videos for indepth tutorials. But in case you opt for direct OS -

Let's say you configure the following to the available specs for NP7235:
1. 120GB Intel 520 SSD in Primary drive for OS - $110
2. 750 GB HDD as secondary drive.
3. Intel 7260 AC wireless dual band
4. Win 8 OS
The total comes to $1324 with a cash discount to $1284 within your budget. You can further reduce the price by getting a SSHD though.

 

Thanks tlprtr19 and naracion.